Ginger (Zingiber officinale Rosc.) is an economically important and valuable spice crop around the world. It is used as food, spice, condiment, and medicine. A considerable extent of genetic diversity in ginger occurs in the Western Ghats and North-Eastern India. However, genetic diversity studies at the molecular level in ginger is limited due to limited availability of genetic and genomic information. In the present study, for the first time, we have identified and validated expressed sequence tag (EST)-simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers from ginger. We obtained 16,790 EST-SSR loci from 78987 unigenes, and 4597 SSR loci in the predicted 76929 coding sequences from RNA-Seq assembled contigs of ginger through Illumina paired-end sequencing. Gene ontology results indicate that the unigenes with SSR loci participate in various biological processes such as metabolism, growth, and development in ginger. One hundred and twenty-five primer pairs were designed from unigenes and coding sequences. These primers were tested for PCR optimization, characterization, and amplification and identified 12 novel EST-SSR markers. Twelve flanking polymorphic EST-SSR primers were validated using 48 ginger genotypes representing North-Eastern India and different eco-geographical adaptations by PCR amplification and allele sizing through capillary electrophoresis. Twelve EST-SSR primers generated a total of 111 alleles with an average of 9.25 alleles per locus and allele sizes ranging between 115-189bp. This study implies that the SSR markers designed from transcriptome sequences provides ample EST-SSR resources, which are helpful for genetic diversity analysis of Zingiberaceae species and molecular verification of ginger genotypes.
2 Sub-optimum production in pineapple fields in India is a common feature in Alfisols. The diagnosis and management of nutrient constraints assume a greater significance in maximizing production sustainability. DRIS norms were computed from the data bank of 324 sub-plots on leaf mineral composition, soil available nutrients, and corresponding mean yield representing three diverse pineapple belts for 3 seasons during 2002 -04. DRIS norms derived primarily from basal portion of 'D'leaves sampled at 4th to 5th month suggested optimum leaf nutrient concentration viz. 1.21 -1.85% nitrogen (N), 0.13 -0.18% phosphorus (P), 1.19 -1.62% potassium (K), 0.27 -0.35% calcium (Ca), 0.43 -0.56% magnesium (Mg), and 78.4 -102.5 iron (Fe), 41.5 -58.3 manganese (Mn), 7.4 -10.2 copper (Cu), and 12.2 -15.8 zinc (Zn) (ppm) in relation to fruit yield of 55 -72 tons ha −1 . Likewise, DRIS norms for soil fertility corresponding to similar level of fruit yield were determined. The norms were further observed validating the leaf/soil test values obtained from productive plots, suggesting the DRIS as a dynamic interpretation tool for diagnosis of nutrient constraints using both, leaf as well as soil analysis.
The efficacy of chemical dips and different storage condition, alone and in combination were imposed in freshly harvested litchi fruit to investigate the changes of bio-chemical composition of fruits at regular interval for a certain period of storage. The pre-cooled litchi fruits after disinfectant were dipped for 60 seconds in lecithin (0.5% & 1%), Hot water, HCl (3%) with hot water, CaCl2 (1% & 2%), CaSO4 (1% & 2%), wax emulsion (5% & 10%), CaNO3 (0.5% & 1%), Chitosan (1% & 2%) and Kaolin (1% & 2%). The treated fruits were stored at room temperature as well as at 4°C & 90% R.H and the quality attributes were assessed at 2, 4, 6 and 8 days interval. Calcium nitrate @ 1% under refrigerated conditions recorded maximum ascorbic acid (54.50 mg/100g pulp), fruit firmness (1.75 kg cm-2) and the lowest acidity (0.42%). Total soluble solids (18.17°B), total sugar (11.27%) and polymeric colour retention with high anthocyanin content (48.94 mg/100g pulp) in peel was found in treated fruits with calcium chloride @1% at 4°C & 90% R.H even after 8 days of storage.
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